Quintessential Mo-Ments No. 33: Mo-ing 'em down

How do you close out the best streak of your career? If you're Mo, the answer is by taking your only at-bat of the season.(AP)

Mariano Rivera has had some great streaks in his career, but for three full weeks in 2010, he wasn’t just great – he was literally untouchable.

On June 3, Rivera entered a game against Baltimore and proceeded to walk Nick Markakis and hit Ty Wigginton with a pitch before buckling down and retiring the side. Little did anyone know, however, that those three outs would be the beginning of a span that saw Rivera retire a career-high 24 batters in a row.

After that outing, Rivera had seven perfect single-inning appearances and a perfect bottom of the ninth in a tie game against Arizona on June 23 to reach 24 in a row, which to this day remains his best streak ever.

The streak ended in the tenth inning of that game, when Stephen Drew hit a leadoff single to become one of three straight batters to reach...but in true Mo fashion, he retired Chris Young, Adam LaRoche, and Mark Reynolds in order with the bases loaded to end up earning the win.

Bonus fun fact about that game: in the top of the 10th inning, Rivera actually took his only at-bat of the year, and even had a chance for his second career RBI; alas, with Brett Gardner on third and two outs, Mo grounded out to second to end the inning. Hey, sometimes even perfection takes a day off, right?